The
functional resume is not liked much by human
resources and functional managers. It is even
less liked, by executive search consultants. Some
consultants will simply not look at a functional resume.
Nevertheless, it has its uses and, may work to your
advantage.

However,
if you have a difficult work history, or make a radical
career change the functional resume may be your best
option.

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This type
of resume only has a short chronological list of
your past jobs and places it in a subordinate
position. Instead, your work experience is
presented under prioritized skill headings that shows
your achievements on the basis of relevance to the job
your are applying for. Your work history (dates, titles,
companies, places of work)is only mentioned, very
shortly, at the end of the resume. This type of
presentation is useful if one or more of the following
occurred:

You
have been job hopping. Anything less
than 18 months, some say 2 years, in a job in the
same company is considered job hopping and,
probably detrimental to your career.

You have other
difficult to explain job gaps (e.g. you
went for the third time on an extended trip to an
ashram in India to find yourself)

You
made several lateral (horizontal) job
moves, that cannot be explained by a
career pattern.

You reenter
the job market after a considerable
absence (for instance after bringing up children,
or after a long illness)

You have
been laid off and then had to search and accept a
much lower level job for financial
reasons in order to survive.

The functional resume will mask some of the
problems, that could challenge your suitability for the
job on offer. Because, you are concentrating on
skills and the specific experience which you
bring along with these skills for your new job, the
focus is moved away from the ups-and-downs in your job
history. That is, obviously, exactly the reason
why it is disliked by some human resource professionals
and managers.

The Functional Resume: An Example

The
functional resume is useful in some circumstances.
It is especially good for job seekers

who reenter
the job market after a long absence

who
wish to make an extreme career move into
a field totally unrelated to their past job
history

The prior
experience and skills you have in the
field of the job your are applying
for or in a closely related field.

A summary of
your overall work accomplishments that
indicate to an employer
the quality of your seriousness and your
ability to perform the required tasks.

Relevant
Experience

Major
Skills

-

a specific
work experience that clear shows
evidence of the skills required
for the job you apply for.

-

a job
achievement that shows you are
persistent and can follow through
to a set goal or solution

-

an instance
of having accomplished your
responsibility with a visible or
noticeable impact on the company,
department or group you worked
in.

-

awards and
commendations for job performance
that support in some ways the job
objective you stated

Related
Experience

-

the
experience that your skills
provided in a specific project or
task you accomplished that has
relevance to the job offered

-

positive
experiences you enjoyed and that
have relevance in your
prospective job

-

quantifiable
instances that show how good you
are at your work

Work
History

20xx-Present

Job Title - Company
Name - City - State

19xx -20xx

Job Title - Company
Name - City - State

19xx - 19xx

Job Title - Company
Name - City - State

19xx - 19xx

Job Title - Company
Name - City - State

Education
(and Languages - if any)

19xx

Your highest
Degree, Major (subject) - University,
City, State

19xx

Your next lower
Degree (if any)

19xx

Professional
Training (if any)

You may assume that the main purpose of this
resume is getting you a pay check. It is not, because you
are not that far yet. First, you have to get an interview
to present your case before you get offered the job.

Because,
for one or the other reason you have a difficult job
history, the main task of the resume will be to
calm any fears in the mind of the employer or his staff,
that you may just be too high a risk and will therefore
not work out. Remember, if the staff or human resources
manager makes a mistake with you, it is a "black
mark" against him and his ability to find the right
people for the job.

It is
therefore very important that you put a lot of
thought into how you present the skills,
qualities and experience in your resume, so that they can
give some assurance against the potential fears which an
employer might have.You have to stand out from
the crowd, but you have to do that in a credible way and
a well written resume will help you.

Some
useful Books from amazon.com

Resume
and Cover Letter Writing Services

We have a
resume writing service that offers a written
resume sent to you by e-mail based on your data,
plus a generic Cover Letter (or a specific one,
if you want that). Turn around is usually 48-72
hours. MS Word format (.doc not docx) or
html. Please send the supporting material (resume
draft, cover letter draft in .doc or .txt
format only, and a short description of
job applied for) after the payment to the address
given in the order acknowledgement.

Special
services such as translations or
the writing of a Curriculum
Vitae are also available.

Editing your Resume and Cover Letter

We will edit your existing resume
and a specific cover letter. You send us your
resume and cover letter by e-mail and we will
edit it to help it along and make it appropriate
to the job you apply to. Obviously we will need a
short description of the job as well (we do not
need the employers name, but the country location
would be useful since resume and cover letters
can different from one country to another).
Please send the supporting material (resume,
cover letter in .doc or .txt format only,
and a short description of job applied for) after
the payment to the address given in the order
acknowledgement. We will normally edit your
resume/cover letter within 72 hours.